Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,300 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $2,139,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in PPG Industries in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 588.5% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 179 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 84.9% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 220 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In related news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,192.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PPG Industries Stock Up 0.1 %

PPG Industries stock traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $135.11. The stock had a trading volume of 2,298,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,733,392. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1-year low of $120.32 and a 1-year high of $152.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $140.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.28.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.96% and a return on equity of 23.51%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PPG. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Friday, January 19th. Barclays lowered PPG Industries from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $163.00 to $149.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $156.00 target price (down from $173.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of PPG Industries from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, PPG Industries currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $158.40.

PPG Industries Profile

PPG Industries, Inc manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and specialty materials in the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Industrial Coatings. The Performance Coatings segment offers coatings, solvents, adhesives, sealants, sundries, and software for automotive and commercial transport/fleet repair and refurbishing, light industrial coatings, and specialty coatings for signs; wood stains; paints, thermoplastics, pavement marking products, and other advanced technologies for pavement marking for government, commercial infrastructure, painting, and maintenance contractors; and coatings, sealants, transparencies, transparent armor, adhesives, engineered materials, and packaging and chemical management services for commercial, military, regional jet, and general aviation aircraft.